This post is going to be all about Reeva Steenkamp instead of focusing on track and field star Oscar Pistorius, who’s murder trial began today. Why? Because the media over-saturates coverage of the shooter in these types of cases, not the victim. Steenkamp was a model and 30-year-old law school graduate, who had been dating Pistorius for several months when Pistorius shot and killed her.
Pistorius is accused of the premeditated killing of Reeva Steenkamp in the early morning of Feb. 14, 2013, at their home in Pretoria. Pistorius fired four shots through a locked bathroom door, hitting Steenkamp three times.
Reeva Steenkamp’s publicist Sarit Tomlinson described the incident as a “huge loss for everyone and too shocking for words.”
“She was a rising star … a very bright young girl,” Tomlinson said.
In South Africa, she already was known as a top model, did a scorching hot cover shoot for FHM, an activist and was working on her reality show “career.”
Asked to describe herself in three words, Reeva Steenkamp chose the words “brainy, blonde, bombshell,” according to the website of “Tropika Island of Treasure 5,” the reality show on which she was going to be featured starting this weekend.
The prosecution claims the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp was deliberate, and from opening statements today intends to show that Pistorius shot her after an argument. Pistorius claims he did not realize Steenkamp was in the bathroom, and believed he was firing on an intruder to him home instead. If the judge believes (South Africa abolished jury trials in 1969, so this will be a bench trial) Pistorius is guilty of shooting an intruder, instead of his girlfriend, he could still get 25 years in preseason.
Killing an intruder is still murder, and this case could go on for months before a verdict is reached.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An MBA and Fulbright scholar, he’s also a frequent analyst on news talk radio; with regular segments on ESPN,NBC, CBS and Fox. A former NBC Chicago and Washington Times writer, he’s also been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)